Hate crimes / hate incidents can take place anywhere, at home, in the street, at work, school or online.

No-one should have to put up with it and live with the fear, anxiety and consequences of hate.

A hate crime is any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Examples include:

• Physical attacks, this includes physical assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti and arson.
• Threats of attack, such as inciting hatred by words, pictures or videos, offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls, intimidation etc

A hate incident is classed as hate crime when the actions of the perpetrator break the law. That does not make hate incidents less important.

Hate incidents and hate crimes are serious offences with devastating impact on the individual, the family and friends of the victims and the wider community.

All reports of hate incidents and hate crimes are taken very seriously and will be treated with confidentiality.

Hate Incident Reporting Centres

HIRCs offer anyone who has experienced or witnessed a hate crime/incident the opportunity to report it if they would prefer not to report to the police.

The reporting centres are based at various community venues/organisations across Calderdale.

We would like to remind you that Ovenden and Mixenden Initiative, part of North Halifax Partnership is a designated reporting centre.

Useful page on Hate Crime on the Citizens Advice Bureau website

We can liaise on your behalf from recording and registering the occurrence, refer it to the police, the council and putting you in touch with other organisations that may be able to further assist you and your family.

To report a hate crime/ hate incident to us, please contact: Karen Scanlon on karen.scanlon@calderdale.gov.uk or call 01422 252209

In an emergency contact the police on 999, or in a non-emergency call 101 or you can report the matter through to Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111

You can always report hate crime directly to the Police or Calderdale Council either online or over the phone.

To report online to West Yorkshire Police visit www.westyorkshire.police.uk

Please note that due to Covid19 the Hate Incident Reporting Centres are being reviewed.

For further information please contact Sail Suleman, Cohesion & Equality Officer (Hate Crime Reduction) on 01422 392869 or by email at sail.suleman@calderdale.gov.uk